Friday, September 26, 2025
Labour at war with each other
The paper says that senior Labour figures compared the Greater Manchester mayor’s attitude to the cavalier approach taken by former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss in a sign of how low relations between No 10 and Burnham have plunged:
Starmer is understood to be furious at Burnham’s admission, in several interviews, that he would seek to challenge the prime minister for the leadership if there was a path to do so.
Cabinet ministers explicitly criticised comments from Burnham in a New Statesman interview published on Wednesday, in which he criticised the economic approach of the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. “We’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets,” he said.
The remarks have incensed those in government. “If you don’t want to be in hock to the bond markets, don’t announce plans that involve billions of borrowing,” one senior source said.
The deputy leadership candidate, Bridget Phillipson, said that working people had already suffered from a “reckless approach on the economy” from Truss.
Burnham has proposed a slew of policies, and told a Guardian documentary that the two-child benefit limit was the “worst of Westminster”. The line prompted disdain from within government because Burnham abstained on the legislation that introduced the cap.
He said he had fought hard at the time to find a way to oppose the bill through an amendment “but the nuances of that debate just got lost”.
Burnham has suggested in other interviews he would favour higher council tax on more expensive properties, investing more in building council housing and a 50% rate of income tax on higher earners, as well as nationalising water and utilities.
Starmer and Phillipson both criticised Burnham’s comments on Thursday and warned that to ignore market forces would put the UK at risk of a Truss-style economic meltdown.
In an interview with the Guardian, Phillipson said she had “a lot of respect for Andy” but added: “We have to tread with real care around casual language on the bond markets. Working people ended up paying more on their mortgages because of Liz Truss’s actions and what happened there.
“So let’s just pause and consider whether it’s really a responsible approach for a party of government to be talking in that kind of language, because working people have suffered once because of a reckless approach on the economy. And it’s through having credibility and a clear plan on the economy that we are able to invest more in public services.”
Starmer told broadcasters he would not be drawn on the mayor’s “personal ambition” but said he would take a tough line on the challenge to the fiscal rules. The prime minister said: “It was three years ago this week that Liz Truss showed what happens if you abandon fiscal rules. Now, in her case, she did that for tax cuts, but the same would happen if it was spending.
“I’m not prepared to let a Labour government ever inflict that harm on working people … And there’s nothing progressive about borrowing more than we need to. It’s nothing progressive about abandoning fiscal rules.
Burnham is clearly positioning himself for something, but seeing as how he is not eligible to challenge for the leadership as he is not an MP, it is difficult to know what. The odds of him winning a by-election to position himself for a challenge are slim in light of the current poll ratings for Labour and Reform, so the only conclusion one can draw is that he is stirring the pot in the hope of getting some changes in policy.
Either way it is not a good look for Labour just before their conference.
